Last Week of School

Cora's school district has an amazing music program, with music class offered to all the grade levels.

In third grade, the children all learn to play the recorder, and on Tuesday morning we gathered to watch their concert.

It was amazing how all that screechy practicing (especially at the beginning of the year) transforms into quite decent music.

Some of the children had a special part to play, and Cora's was a line about how the students could earn "karate belts," or colored yarn knotted around the recorder, for hitting different benchmarks. Here are the students holding up their recorders who show off their belts.
 

On Tuesday night, I met JT for dinner at LGO, where Melanie works on the weekends. We set this date up as a belated birthday treat, as her in-laws are in town and can stay with the children in the evening.

We had a great time catching up, and wandered around Old Town Pasadena when we finished eating.




On Wednesday, I had my last time volunteering in Mrs. Hawthorne's class. It was sad for me! And then I helped Mrs. Breneman for a bit before the girls were dismissed for the day.

On Thursday, Violet and I had our last school-morning walk together, ending a four-year tradition. We walked with Melanie and Christina, who snapped the photo. Violet is holding a beautiful Morning Glory she picked for Mrs. Hawthorne.

We went home and went through bags of clothing generously given to Violet by friends, and got ready for school.

Most days this year, I drove through the valet line and dropped Violet off, and didn't watch her go in.

But since this was the last mid-morning dropoff, I arrived early enough to park and watch. Perhaps I shouldn't have, as I was flooded with emotions as she walked in for her almost-last-day-of-kinder. I will miss her so much next school year, as I'm so very fond of my little buddy I've had around for six years now.

In the photo, she's handing Mrs. H her flower (a rose from our yard, since the Morning Glory didn't survive long off its vine).

After school on Thursday, we went for haircuts for the girls, who both had several inches off.

We then went to the pet store for cat litter, and checked out the cute animals.

With the girls getting older, I do more of these errands on my own. That fact made it especially fun to hear them squealing with laughter as they watched the dwarf hamsters running on the wheel.